


Little Do You Know

by orphan_account



Category: The Walking Dead & Related Fandoms, The Walking Dead (TV), The Walking Dead RPF
Genre: Angst and Humor, Eventual Relationships, F/M, Love/Hate, Secrets
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-17
Updated: 2016-09-17
Packaged: 2018-08-15 12:50:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8057077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account





	Little Do You Know

He'd been watching her for a week now. He'd wanted her from the first moment he saw her. He could recall the exact moment he first saw her. She was standing in the crowded coffee shop, waiting for her turn to order whatever caffeinated beverage she needed to begin her day. She wore a long, spaghetti strapped sundress that was deep cut in the front and modest, but sexy enough to catch his attention. She had paired the dress with a pair of high heeled sandals, making her already tallish frame appear several inches taller, bringing her to almost the same height as he was. Her long dark hair was pulled up some sort of torturous looking bun on her head, but the humidity of the day had caused curls to fall down her face, framing it. What caught his attention the most though, was the green of her eyes. Bright, beautiful, almost cat like in color. She had a full mouth that was painted a shade of pink. Classically beautiful came to mind as the best way to describe her general appearance.   
She was obviously not from around here. Besides the fact that her pale skin had obviously never seen the inside of a tanning booth, it also didn't appear to have been exposed to Georgia summers much. He was pretty much a regular at this coffee shop, stopping in almost every day before he had to be on set; all the locals knew him, no one made a fuss over him or acted like it was unusual at all that someone of celebrity status was just hanging around in a coffee shop. It was nice to just be...himself once in awhile. He'd of noticed her if she'd been here before now. But for the last week, there she was, almost every time he was. If he hadn't known better, he'd think she was doing it on purpose, except she never even glanced in his direction or acted like she even had a remote clue as to who he was, any fan of his would never of held out so long.   
The little girl was with her again today. She hadn't been yesterday. If it wasn't her daughter, the little girl was clearly of some relation, as she favored the woman way too much. He watched as the girl grasped onto the woman’s arm, swinging it back and forth, back and forth, lifting herself up on her pink little sandals to see how much longer of a wait the two of them had before it was their turn to order. She couldn't of been more than four, five at the most. He smiled to himself when he heard the woman order a large black coffee for herself, and, glancing at the child, a small fruit smoothie. She jumped up and down in excitement and his smile grew wider. He was slightly jealous. It'd been awhile since something as simple as a fruit smoothie got him that excited.   
The woman took her number and led the little girl over to a small table a few feet away, setting her purse down and settling the girl in her seat, speaking quietly with her. He wasn't sure what it was about the two of them that was drawing him in. He was the one that usually had awestruck fans, and here he was, gawking like a weirdo. He forced himself to look away as it was his turn to order, and he ordered a large caffeinated beverage, before stepping aside to wait. The tables were all filled now, and he usually just took his coffee to go anyway, but today, standing there waiting, he felt awkward as hell.  
"Bell?" the boy behind the counter called, and he saw the woman look up, say something to the little girl, who nodded, and stand up, crossing the few feet to the counter to grab their drinks. She sat the smoothie down in front of the little girl, who smiled happily, and began drinking her fruity concoction. She sat then herself, and looked up, catching him staring.   
He looked away quickly in embarrassment, and back towards the counter, willing the kid behind the counter to call his name so he could collect his coffee, refusing to look back at her for fear she'd catch him staring again.

She recognized him. Not because of his celebrity status, although she was aware of who he was. She didn't have time for TV, not between her job as a teacher and taking care of a child. She recognized him from the photos. The ones she kept in a scrap book that she hadn't yet bothered to show Lana. The ones her sister had kept locked in a safe box, that depicted a time she'd rather forget but admitted at some point Lana would ask about. The ones that told a story of a weekend fling with a celebrity close to five years ago, that resulted in her becoming pregnant. Melissa had never spoken to Norman again after that weekend, and only spoke of him when absolutely necessary. Which mostly meant never. But when Melissa died a year ago, leaving Bell as Lana's sole guardian, Bell had begun her search. Not knowing the first thing about how to get in touch with someone of his status, let alone convince him the little girl she now thought of as her own, was his daughter. But through some Internet sleuthing, she found enough information to track him. And now here she was. And there he was. And she had no clue how to proceed from here. When she'd embarked with Lana on their summer vacation, all she could think was about that fact that Lana deserved to know her dad, she'd already lost her mother. But now that it was real, now that she was within a few feet from him, she suddenly realized how stupid it all sounded. Crazy even. Even if he did believe her, what made her think that he'd want anything to do with Lana? Melissa sure hadn't thought he would. And that little girl had been though enough heartbreak already in her short little life. It was in that moment, watching Lana enjoy her fruit smoothie, and catching Normans eye across the coffee shop, that she decided to leave it alone. Some things were better off the way they were. This was one of those things.   
"What do you want to do today sweetie?" She asked Lana, watching her suck down her smoothie  
"Um...the zoo." she said excitedly  
"the zoo?!" Bell repeated in exaggerated horror "again? That makes three times"  
Lana laughed in delight "I love the monkeys."  
"you're a monkey." Bell replied, reaching over to tickle her. The movement caused three things to happened almost simultaneously. Lana laughed, moving her arm, hitting Bells cup of coffee, which fell in slow motion to the floor. Bell jumped up as the hot liquid sloshed onto her top, scolding her slightly and soaking her, and she stumbled back into the crowded line of people waiting for their orders. She felt strong arms grasp her upper arms to keep her from stumbling more, steading her, at the same time hearing a calm voice in her ear  
"Easy, I got you."   
"Sorry!" she exclaimed, turning in instinct to steady herself, placing a hand on the guys chest, then yanking it away just as quickly "I'm sorry"  
"It's fine." he grabbed a handful of napkins and handed them to her, gesturing to her shirt, and dropped some more on the floor to soak up the coffee on the floor  
She dabbed at the coffee stain on her , cursing herself for choosing to wear white that day "thanks." she mumbled  
"Sorry Bell." the little girl spoke up, looking at them both in concern  
"It's OK sweetie." Bell moved to her quickly, kissing the frown from her face "It was my own fault." She glanced up, her heart dropping when she realized that it was Norman that she'd just been rescued by "Thanks." she added, swallowing hard  
He nodded, picking up the handful of napkins and tossing them in the trash "Sorry I couldn't save your coffee." he gestured to the counter "Can I buy you another?"  
"Oh." the offer caught her off guard "It's fine really. We were almost ready to go."   
"But I'm not done with my smoothie." Lana spoke up with a protest  
"Yeah, she's not done with her smoothie." Norman repeated with a small smile   
She hesitated "OK, then, sure, just a coffee, black."  
He nodded, moving back up to the counter as she sat back down, still dabbing at her shirt  
"I can see your bra." Lana laughed  
"You're supposed to tell me it doesn't look bad." Bell informed her, reaching under the table to grab her foot playfully  
She laughed "It looks horrible."  
"Thanks girl. You make me feel pretty."  
"You are pretty. Just not your shirt." She shrugged, then went back to sucking on her smoothie like it was the simplest observation in the world.  
"Here you go." Norman interrupted a few minutes later, setting a fresh coffee in front of her  
"Thank you so much." she smiled great fully at him  
"Mind if I?" he gestured to the chair  
"Of course not." she replied. What else could she really say at this point?  
"I'm Lana." Lana informed him, not shy at all as she watched him sit down beside them  
"Hi Lana, I'm Norman." he held his hand out and she took it politely in her own "And what's your moms name again? Bell?" he asked, still addressing Lana  
She smiled and shook her head "she's not my mommy, she's just my Bell."  
"I'm sorry." he looked at Bell then "you two look alike, I just assumed-."  
"I'm her Aunt." Bell supplied   
"Well it's nice to meet you, Aunt Bell." he held out his own hand, his blue eyes meeting her own "Norman."  
She hesitated, then took his hand. He had a manly, strong grip, and she swallowed hard "if we're being formal, it's actually Jesabel"  
"Jesabel, really? Like...a hussy?"  
"That's Jezebel, but yeah, that was the running joke in high school. Thanks for the fond memories." she smiled, trying to make it a joke, but he could tell that there was a little bit of truth behind her confession  
"what's a hussy?" Lana asked suddenly "Like a dog?"  
"that's a Husky sweetheart." Bell informed her  
"well, then, what's a..."  
"It's a friendly woman." Norman told her  
"oh. Well then that's what you are. A Husky." Lana turned to inform Bell, who planted her face in the palm of her hand  
"Now I'm a dog. this day gets better and better." She shook her head but was smiling at the humor in it all  
Norman was grinning as well "It could be worse."  
"Thanks." Bell laughed, then remembered her horrible appearance "At least it was just my shirt right?"  
"It's not that bad." Norman tried to lie but Lana was already giggling, and he couldn't help but smile back  
"Well we'll just have to stop by the hotel before we go sight seeing today." She informed Lana  
"Where are you two from?" he asked curiously  
"Nebraska." she informed him  
"Nebraska." he repeated "anything interesting ever happen in Nebraska?"  
"Not too often." she admitted with a light laugh "which is why we decided to take our vacation in a nice warm sunny state, huh Lana?"   
"Yep." Lana agreed   
"How long are you two visiting?" he asked  
Bell shrugged "Not really sure yet. I'm a school teacher so I get summers off, we might hang around another week or two, then go on down to Florida for awhile."  
"That's kind of nice, to have the whole summer to travel, enjoy life." he observed  
"We're going to the zoo today." Lana told him  
"that sounds like fun."  
"we've already been twice. I'm trying to talk her into some other adventures."  
"I like the animals." Lana informed him  
"Have you been to the Aquarium? Lots of animals and stuff to see there" he told her  
"No." her eyes grew huge and she turned to Bell "can we go?  
"We'll see honey." she told her, sighing at the thoughts of the long lines  
"If you want, I kind of have some strings I could pull, get you special access, skip the lines." he offered, as if he could read her mind “If you don't mind a tag along that is."  
"Why would you do that?" she asked, looking at him in surprise. Was he really offering to go with them?   
He shrugged "I don't know. It just seemed like the nice thing to offer, and it's not inconvenience me."  
"Please Bell?" Lana pleaded "can we go?"  
"Well, OK." Bell agreed, a little reluctantly, turning to Norman "if you're sure."  
"I'm sure." he replied, "I'll make a few calls, get it set up for you."  
"I really need to go back to the hotel and change." she informed them both  
"Why don't I take your number? I'll call you with the details."  
Wow, smooth, she thought to herself, but nodded and jotted down her phone number on the napkin, standing up  
"Thanks again, for, saving me from falling on my ass, and the coffee, and everything." she said, slinging her purse over her shoulder and reaching for Lanas hand  
"No problem." he replied, "I'll call you in a bit. Nice to meet you Lana." he added, turning to address her   
"You too." she grinned, then yanked at Bells hand "come on, lets go get you cleaned up."  
Bell laughed, allowing herself to be dragged along by the five year old, waving to Norman as they exited the coffee shop.


End file.
